8.  The applicant was born in 1949 and lives in Haarlem.
9.  The applicant worked as a freelance photographer from the mid-1970s until the early or mid-1980s, but developed pulmonary and psychiatric problems. On 15 December 1988 he applied to the New General Occupational Association (Nieuwe algemene bedrijfsvereniging – “the NAB”) for a disability pension under the General Labour Disability Act (Algemene Arbeidsongeschiktheidswet – “the AAW”).
10.  On 20 November 1989 the NAB gave a decision refusing the applicant such a pension on the ground that he had not at any time been unfit for work for fifty-two consecutive weeks, his disability having continued beyond such a period. The decision was signed on behalf of the NAB by the managing director of the Haarlem district branch of the Joint Administration Office (Gemeenschappelijk Administratiekantoor), per procurationem.
11.  On 18 December 1989 the applicant appealed to the Appeals Tribunal (Raad van Beroep), the administrative tribunal competent in social security cases at the time. During the course of the proceedings, he was subjected to various medical examinations.
12.  On 12 November 1991 the Appeals Tribunal dismissed the applicant's appeal on the ground that he had been sufficiently fit for alternative work.
13.  On 22 November 1991 the applicant lodged a further appeal with the Central Appeals Tribunal (Centrale Raad van Beroep). He submitted his grounds of appeal on 18 May 1992.
14.  It seems that on 29 July 1993 the President of the Central Appeals Tribunal wrote to the management board of the NAB, asking whether the applicant, as a freelance photographer, was properly insured with their occupational association.
15.  On 9 December 1993 the NAB management board replied, acknowledging responsibility for the applicant from 1 November 1983 onwards but suggesting that from 1 September 1982 until 1 November 1983 the competent occupational association might have been the Occupational Association for the Banking and Insurance Sector, Wholesale Trade and Professions (Bedrijfsvereniging voor Bank- en Verzekeringswezen, Groothandel en Vrije Beroepen – “the OA Banks and Professions”).
16.  On 1 March 1994 the Central Appeals Tribunal quashed the NAB's decision on the ground that, in so far as it had included an assessment of the applicant's fitness for work between 1 September 1982 and 1 November 1983, it had been taken unlawfully; the competent occupational association during this period had been the OA Banks and Professions. The NAB was ordered to give a new decision taking this fact into account.
17.  The NAB never considered the case again.
18.  Even before the Central Appeals Tribunal's decision, on 14 January 1994 the OA Banks and Professions wrote to the applicant informing him that it was assuming responsibility for his social insurance for the period from 1 November 1975 until 1 November 1983. By a decision of the same date, it refused the applicant an AAW pension on the ground that he had not been unfit for work for fifty-two consecutive weeks between 1 November 1975 and 1 November 1983. This decision, like the NAB's decision of 20 November 1989, was signed per procurationem by the managing director of the Haarlem district branch of the Joint Administration Office.
19.  The applicant appealed to the Administrative Law Division of the Haarlem Regional Court – the regional courts having by then succeeded the appeals tribunals as the competent first-instance tribunals in social security matters – on 14 February 1994.
20.  The Regional Court held a hearing on 10 April 1997. The applicant's opponent was now the National Social Insurance Institute (Landelijk Instituut Sociale Verzekeringen – “the LISV”), which, following a reorganisation of the social security implementing system earlier that year, had replaced the multitude of occupational associations.
21.  On 12 May 1997 the Regional Court gave a decision allowing the appeal and quashing the decision of 14 January 1994. It found that the OA Banks and Professions had acted ultra vires in considering the period before 1 September 1982. It ordered the LISV to give a fresh decision, and enjoined it now to show “some diligence” (“thans met enige voortvarendheid”).
22.  On 31 July 1997 the LISV informed the applicant that it would not appeal against the Regional Court's decision. It gave a new decision refusing the applicant an AAW pension on the ground that he had not at any time after 1 September 1982 been unfit for work for a consecutive period of fifty-two weeks and had remained unfit for work thereafter. This decision too was signed per procurationem by the managing director of the Haarlem district branch of the Joint Administration Office.
23.  In conformity with a new procedure introduced in 1994 by the General Administrative Law Act (Algemene Wet Bestuursrecht), the applicant lodged an objection with the LISV (care of the Haarlem district branch of the Joint Administration Office) on 9 September 1997. The applicant's notice of objection contained the grounds on which it was based.
24.  The LISV gave a decision dismissing the objection on 30 December 1997. The decision was signed, on behalf of the LISV, by the head of the Objections and Appeals Department of the Haarlem district branch of the Joint Administration Office.
25.  On 29 January 1998 the applicant lodged an appeal with the Administrative Law Division of the Haarlem Regional Court, submitting grounds of appeal at the same time.
26.  The Regional Court held a hearing on 25 March 1999. On 19 April 1999 it gave its decision. Finding that the LISV had failed to undertake any medical examination of the applicant itself, it quashed the decision of 30 December 1997 and ordered the LISV to give a fresh decision.
27.  The LISV, represented by the head of the Objections and Appeals Department of the Haarlem district branch of the Joint Administration Office, appealed to the Central Appeals Tribunal on 4 May 1999.
28.  The Central Appeals Tribunal held a hearing on 24 April 2001. On 29 May 2001 it gave its decision. It gave a summary of the prior proceedings, going back as far as the applicant's first application for an AAW pension on 15 December 1988 and encompassing the decisions of the NAB, the OA Banks and Professions and the LISV as well as the legal remedies applied against these. It went on to quash the decision given by the Regional Court on 19 April 1999 and to declare the applicant's appeal against the LISV's decision of 30 December 1997 unfounded.